Murphy sets new club record with 41 hits in a month

By Mark Zuckerman

Nationals

May 28, 2016, 9:00pm

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It wasn't the prettiest hit he's recorded all season, and it probably should have been caught by Cardinals right fielder Stephen Piscotty, but Daniel Murphy won't complain about the second-inning single last night that gave him a new Nationals club record.

That single, which came on a blooper to shallow right field that went in and out of a diving Piscotty's glove, was Murphy's 41st hit of May. And that's more hits than any player in Nationals history has ever recorded in a single month.

Murphy broke a record previously held by five others, most recently Denard Span, who had 40 hits in August 2014.

And he still has three more days in May to try to add to his total and perhaps challenge the Nationals/Expos franchise monthly record of 47 hits, set by Al Oliver in August 1982 and Marquis Grissom in June 1994.

Murphy was just 1-for-4 during last night's 9-4 loss to St. Louis, dropping his batting average to .390. That still leads the league, but it's down slightly from the .403 mark he owned two weeks ago.